Working within the confines of a hierarchical organization, the shadow hunters patrol the shadow world and the mundane world, keeping ordinary humans safe from their supernatural brethren. Shadow hunters are special humans who possess angel blood which gives them access to incredible gifts. The peace between the supernatural and the natural is maintained primarily by the efforts of the shadow hunters. Not only do the supernatural entities in the Dark Artifices series manifest in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, and formats but they are an orderly bunch, operating within organizations, families, tribes, and even kingdoms. Not just vampires and werewolves but faeries and demons and various other creatures, all of them jostling for space on the same plane of existence. The denizens of the ordinary or mundane world pursue ordinary or mundane lives unaware that the supernatural walk beside them. Like its predecessors, the Dark Artifices takes place in a world where myths and magic are real. In fact, anyone that chooses to read the Shadowhunter chronicles in order can just as easily transition from the Infernal Devices to the Dark Artifices, which is the first true sequel to the Mortal Instruments. They take readers back to Victorian London in the 1800s where an ordinary teenager learns that she has special powers.Įven though the author would encourage you to read ‘The Bane Chronicles’ and ‘Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy’, both of which are collections of novellas, neither works are essential reading. These books are actually prequels, even though they were published after the Mortal Instruments.

The Infernal Devices novels follow the Mortal Instruments. They officially kick off with the first mortal instruments book which starts in 2007 and follows the exploits of Clary Fray, a powerful supernatural warrior that must lead the fight against an evil force. Her novels are generally referred to as ‘The Shadow Hunter Chronicles’. In fact, most such casual fans wouldn’t know what to make of the Dark Artifices because they wouldn’t know that the series is actually a spin-off of the Mortal Instruments.Ĭassandra Clare’s world is sometimes a little difficult to comprehend, though things begin to fall into place once you read all the works she has written and published over the years. The same cannot be said for casual fans most of whom only ever connect Cassandra Clare’s name to the Mortal Instruments series.

Those readers have a fairly accurate understanding of the vast world that Cassandra has built over the years. The books take place in the same universe as the Mortal Instruments series.Ĭassandra Clare has a strong fanbase of readers who have followed her work fervently ever since she wrote and published the first novel in the Mortal Instruments series. Dark Artifices is a series of urban fantasy novels written by Cassandra Clare.

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